Egypt Facts: 55 Interesting Facts About Egypt

Admittedly, Egypt is one of the most fascinating early ancient civilizations in human history. We have compiled together some of the most interesting facts about Egyptfor your amusement. Enjoy.

Egyptian pyramids

Fact 1: Everyone knows about the pyramids of Egypt, but did you know that they were built as tombs for the pharaohs and their royal families to link them to Ra the sun god? In case you’re wondering, more than 130 pyramids have been discovered so far.

Fact 2: How huge do you think these pyramids are? Imagine a structure weighing six times more than a 100-floor modern skyscraper. Better still, imagine a structure occupying five football fields and looking down upon the statue of liberty. The pyramid of Giza, housing the King Khufu’s bones, or is it mummy, was this large.

Fact 3: What about the human side of the imposing pyramids? Well, it is believed that thousands, perhaps millions of Egyptians died building the pyramids. For their honored trouble though, they were buried in tombs near their pyramid they built for their revered pharaoh.

Fact 4: Oh and, by the way, the workers who built the pyramids were paid. Guess with what? A daily dose of a gallon of Beer. That’s the most interesting fact about Egypt, if you ask me.

Fact 5: Speaking of which, the first pyramid was built in 2600 BC by Egyptian architect Imhotep.

Fact 6: The Imhotep guy was again, the first recorded physician, engineer, and architect.

Fact 7: Cats were not your pet but were considered as sacred. For ancient Egyptians, having a cat in the purring in the house would guarantee good luck.

Fact 8: Cats were not the only lucky creatures, though. While modern women got to enjoy rights to property, and the world started seeing women doctors and women business moguls only in the 19th century, Egyptian women could own property, carry out business, make doctors and become priestesses. Hell, some churches are yet to accept priestess as word.

Fact 9: The gods of Egypt were so numerous that practically everything had a deity in control, from human emotions to natural order and disasters. Woe unto whoever went against the wishes of the more than 1,000 gods.

Egyptian mummies facts

Fact 13:Imagine stripping an Egyptian mummy naked! Well, if somehow you could have the guts to do it, you would find that the bandage could stretch up to 1.6 kilometers.

Fact 14: But why mummify dead guys? The answer is in the afterlife. By preserving the dead bodies, ancient Egyptians believed that the souls of the mummified would roam forever in the afterlife.

Fact 15: As mummification process, the intestines and all internal organs except the heart were removed and placed in canopic jars. They sucked the brains from the head through the nose. Did I hear a shocked “yuck?”

Fact 16: You would think mummification stopped with pharaohs, and the wealthy Egyptians, right? Wrong. Archeologists dug up a 15 ft mummified croc.

Fact 17: Talking of mummified pharaohs, Ramses II the greatest pharaoh ever ruled Egypt for 60 years and had over 90 children born to 8 wives and close to 100 concubines. Lucky chap.

Egyptian kings, queens and pharaohs

Fact 18: The honor of the first Egyptian pharaoh though goes to King Menes, who had to die in the jaws of a hippo after ruling for 60 years from 3200 B.C

Fact 19: Ironically, the Egyptian goddess of childbirth and fertility portrayed a bipedal hippo with the legs of a feline or cat if you like. Creepy!

Fact 20: Another interesting fact about Egypt is that pharaohs hid their hair inside the crown or a headdress referred to as nemes.

Fact 21: While we’re dining with the Kings, meet the 6-year-old King Pepi II. The longest serving Egyptian king, Pepi took the reign at the tender age of 6 and went on to rule for 94 years.

Fact 22: Talk of a six-year-old. Rather than face a tiny fly like a pharaoh, King Pepi was known to have slaves smeared with honey to attract flies away from him.

Fact 23: Beating King Pepi’s honey mischief, early pharaohs had their servants knocked dead to be buried with the king. Otherwise, who would serve the royal guys in the afterlife?

Fact 24: Remember Cleopatra, the scandalous yet powerful last ancient pharaoh who married her younger brother? She was Greek. Yes, indeed, both to her being Greek and having married her brother.

Fact 25: The incestuous act by Cleopatra and her kid brother was not an abomination in ancient Egypt. When a woman was next on the royal line, she was supposed to marry her brother to help her in her royal duties and to ensure she stays put and loyal to the royal family.

Fact 26: Back to the seductive queen Cleopatra, even the grim reaper had to submit to her allure, when she decided to die on her terms. Death by the poisonous asp, making the end of the ancient pharaoh lineage.

Egyptian inventions and discoveries

Fact 27: If you thought makeup was discovered or even perfected by the modern woman, you couldn’t be far from the truth. Egyptians, women, and men alike wore stunning shapes and shades of makeup referred to as khol. The makeup was not just for beauty but also for protection from sun rays as well as healing powers. (Some interesting facts about the sun)

Fact 28: Games? Oh yes. The Egyptians played their version of dice by using sticks in place of dice and even a game of chance called the senet dating back to 3500 B.C

Fact 29: Another amazing fact about Egypt is that the beer was such a favorite drink of the ancient Egyptians that even the dead got the opportunity to get drunk through beer offerings.

Fact 30: The Egyptians first writing system called hieroglyphs was by 3,300 BC. Over 700 Egyptian hieroglyphs have been recorded.

Egypt with bordering countries on map.

For more pictorial information on Egypt’s geography, visit Google Maps.

Fact 31: Initially, Egypt was known several names such as Kemet, Deshret, and Hwt-ka-ptah. The Greeks, probably unable to pronounce it correctly change the Hwt-ka-ptah to Aegyptus. Go, figure the origin of the Egypt.

Fact 32: Ever wondered where the idea of 365 days, 12 months year started? the ancient Egyptians again beat the rest of the world to it and were the first to adopt the idea.

Fact 33: And yes, these smart ancients invented the clock, too!

Fact 34: Of inventions, the ancient Egyptians beat modern civilization to making the first toothpaste. They made the toothpaste from ashes and ox hooves powder mixed with burnt eggshells and pumice.

Fact 35: Despite their long silky hair, the ancient Egyptians shaved their hair and instead wore weaves woven with human hair for the rich and wool and vegetable fiber for the poor.

Fact 36: Have a problem with bed wetting? Take it from the ancient Egyptian peasants who carried around a bag of bones from a mouse to cure the bed-wetting affliction.

Fact 37: The earliest peace treaty ever forged was by, yes, you guessed right, the ancient Egyptians. The treaty was between King Ramses II and King Hattusili of the Hittites in 1259 B.C.

Fact 38: The earliest workers rights protest was staged in ancient Egypt during the reign of King Ramses III, in the 12th century B.C.

Fact 39: Forget the athletic and slender representations of pharaohs. Mummy evidence shows that most pharaohs were overweight and perhaps diabetic. Ask the 15th century B.C Queen Hatshepsut mummy.

Fact 40: The latest evidence shows that the pyramids were built by the Egyptians and not slaves as earlier recorded. We have the 5th century B.C. Greek historian, Herodotus to thank for the slave myth, or is it?

Fact 52: The mystery behind the sphinx’ missing nose and beard has fueled a series of theories and myths. An AD 1378 myth has a Sufi Muslim cleric hanged for vandalism after he destroyed the Sphinx’ nose in a fit of fury over the peasant offerings to the Sphinx.

To sum up, sample these interesting facts about Egypt as we know it today.

Fact 53: Egypt is home to one of the world’s largest dam, Aswan high dam, built to contain the raging waters of the world’s longest river, the Nile.

Fact 54: The 2011 Egyptian revolution left as around 800 people dead, culminating in the dramatic resignation of President Hosni Mubarak.

Fact 55: And out of the 2011 ashes rose Facebook Jamal Ibrahim, a name given to a daughter by a father grateful for the role Facebook played in the 2011 Egyptian revolution.

Those are the most amazing, most interesting facts about Egypt that I have ever come cross.

Country facts about Egypt

Capital City

Cairo 30°2′N 31°13′E

Largest City

Cairo 30°2′N 31°13′E

Total area

1,001,450 sq km

Population

94,666,993 (July 2016 est.)

Official Language

Egyptian Arabic

Borders

Gaza, Sudan, Libya and Israel.

Currency

Egyptian pound (EGP)

Religion

Islam and Christianity

Life expectancy

72.7 Years (2012)
Life expectancy at birth indicates the number of years a newborn infant would live if prevailing patterns of mortality at the time of its birth were to stay the same throughout its life.